I got married at the nearby Santa Mesa Church. A typhoon raged all day on this prostrate and razed city. We held a small reception at our rented basement home. A borrowed genset provided electricity on occasions, while air blowing through cracks in the walls kept blowing out the candles. The caterer arrived late and few of the few invited guests were able to come. Gifts were out of the question, and so was a honeymoon. Time to get along with my life and forget the past.

. . . .

A GI came by to tell us that he and my brother Joe had recently been liberated from a POW camp in Korea. Joe was well and already en route to Manila by ship. "I'll meet this ship myself at the dock and bring him to you even if it's midnight, OK?"

— "Buddy, even 2 or 3, 4 or 5 AM!" We spread the happy news to the family.

. . . .

Again, late at night, Capt. Samson stood at the door with a GI beside him. After the two entered our little sala and brief awkward pause, the Captain began to introduce his companion, who in that instant began to twitch his lips in a certain way that I recognized was none other than my brother Joe. Captain Joseph A. Brimo 0-89003 U.S. Army. Home after 46 months of Bataan; the Death March; O'Donnell; Cabanatuan; the three Hell ships; Moji, Japan; Jansin, Korea; and LIBERATION.

. . . .

Aurelio Montinola was appointed Secretary of Finance in the Roxas Cabinet in 1950. Laurel was charged for sedition by the U.S. and indicted but was later pardoned by President Roxas.

—— THE END ——

Addendum: Capt. J.A. Brimo